interested in buying a foreign blu-ray, questions with ripbot

[zero7404]

i am interested in buying the movie Agora on blu-ray, but there is no US version yet, there are versions released in europe in spoken english, i don't really use subtitles, but the discs are PAL and from a different region. it probably has a different frame rate than the standard movie frame rate of 24fps.

would i encounter a problem encoding the movie with ripbot ? i use anydvd hd and it's able to emulate regions so i don't see a problem with anydvd. just want to make sure i can make an MP4 of this movie using ripbot as i have been with most of my blu-ray movies.

[poisondeathray]

Not a problem.

Most theatrical bd releases shot on film are 24fps or 23.976fps, even in PAL regions. Some are 25fps progressive, but encoded as interlaced, but even that isn't a problem

[zero7404]

not sure whether to wait a little while, maybe a region 1 version is headed this way. but other than subtitles, spoken language differences and region the movie is the same. it still comes with english audio.

[jman98]

I was not familiar with this film so I did a little research. For those who don't know, for the most part the US is not a great market for foreign films and Agora counts as a foreign film. The film had trouble finding a US distributor, but it did get one finally. I never heard of it so I would guess that the US box office was underwhelming. It did get a US DVD release in late 2010 so it's not likely to come out on BluRay here if it hasn't already. That's not 100% certain, but I would think that most likely it won't be out on region A BD.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/france/130839-agora.html
has a post near the bottom of the first page from Beaucamper who tells how to buy the BD from the Netherlands. This might of interest to you and perhaps others. I have no personal experience buying from the recommended seller in that post.

[Gabriel]

This is available on Amazon FR region free.

http://www.amazon.fr/Agora-Blu-ray-Rachel-Weisz/dp/B003CI2G6S/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8...1019522&sr=1-1

[zero7404]

thanks for helping, i looked around before i posted here, so i'm familiar with some of the versions available. i saw it on DVD, and i know the acting itself is in english/audio. but i am unsure if i can get the english audio track from the blu-ray when i demux it using ripbot. i contacted a seller on amazon who told me the item doesn't have english audio, but that's contrary to what's shown on blu-ray.com for the spanish version that he is selling ...

i assume all the blu-ray releases of this movie must have at least the english audio track as well. i don't bother with subtitles anyway, so all i need is english audio.

[redwudz]

What I've done with a few BDs is to run them through tsMuxerGUI.exe and just have it output the correct video and audio (And subs, if you want them) tracks. Then I feed that to RipBot. That way no mistakes with the wrong language or director audio tracks. tsMuxerGUI.exe is in the 'Tools' folder of RipBot.

[Gabriel]

Blu ray HD discs are not PAL or ATSC; your player converts the output to either or - however you have it set up. If the extras are in SD then the PAL could be a problem if your player doesn't convert it, mine does (OPPO).

I buy a lot of discs from UK and occasionally Germany. If watching the movie is your principle concern, you won't have any problems; they all play great.. The French version has both English and French audio.

[zero7404]

from what i've been researching i think the German and Spanish versions also have English audio. a seller on amazon told me the version they sell doesn't have english audio, and it's the Italian version ....

i spotted a few versions on ebay, i think i'll buy the German version.

with regard to blu-ray and scanning technology, i've seen references made to PAL, i guess PAL/NTSC are dead if blu-ray no longer uses these scanning methods.

[zero7404]

Blu ray HD discs are not PAL or ATSC; your player converts the output to either or - however you have it set up. If the extras are in SD then the PAL could be a problem if your player doesn't convert it, mine does (OPPO).

I buy a lot of discs from UK and occasionally Germany. If watching the movie is your principle concern, you won't have any problems; they all play great.. The French version has both English and French audio.

one thing i looked over is that the beginning of the movie has scrolling text. i guess then it would only be in the language that's the same as the titling of the disc (i.e., the country it is made for), correct ?

or maybe this movie has 'angles' similar to the star wars blu-rays, in which each angle would display the intro text in a different language.

[jman98]

with regard to blu-ray and scanning technology, i've seen references made to PAL, i guess PAL/NTSC are dead if blu-ray no longer uses these scanning methods.

Not exactly. BluRay extras are often at DVD PAL or NTSC resolutions and frame rates, although they sometimes will use H.264 or AVC instead of MPEG-2. And it is possible to have 1080i video on BluRay at 29.97 fps or 25 fps so the old PAL/NTSC frame rates and resolutions are still around. Those "PALish" frame rates and resolutions are playback problems on many BluRay players and HDTVs sold in North America, but of course as we all know nobody in the USA or Canada would ever have any reason to buy a BluRay disc produced in another region.

[zero7404]

This is available on Amazon FR region free.

http://www.amazon.fr/Agora-Blu-ray-Rachel-Weisz/dp/B003CI2G6S/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8...1019522&sr=1-1

i ordered it from amazon.fr and it finally arrived today. the disc is actually region locked (2) and it won't play in my ps3 however i use anydvd hd for decryption and it also takes care of region codes, so i'm on my way to making an MP4 of this awesome movie right now.

as it turns out the disc doesn't use 'angles', there is only one main movie video stream and i researched that the french version displays english story/picture text, which it does. thankfully also has english audio ....

[zero7404]

but of course as we all know nobody in the USA or Canada would ever have any reason to buy a BluRay disc produced in another region.

this thread is an example of the opposite of this statement.

[zero7404]

Blu ray HD discs are not PAL or ATSC; your player converts the output to either or - however you have it set up. If the extras are in SD then the PAL could be a problem if your player doesn't convert it, mine does (OPPO).

I buy a lot of discs from UK and occasionally Germany. If watching the movie is your principle concern, you won't have any problems; they all play great.. The French version has both English and French audio.

which oppo model do you use ? i assume u have it modded to play all regions ?
i was looking into the bdp-93 as a replacement for my ps3. but i'm not yet sure if it can handle the type of media files i stored on my NAS. namely the mp4's i have are h.264 avc with aac-lc audio, but both streams use variable bitrates. the ps3 can handle them, but the wireless g on it chokes when bitrates inflect, causing stutter.

i know oppo's use wireless n, but it's the standard 2.4GHz freq, i would prefer to opt for 5GHz due to it being less crowded than other wifi broadcasts around my neighborhood.